The Santa Fe to Taos Trail is not about hikers or thru-hiking. It is about the land: the forests, the watersheds, the mountains, and all the life they hold. We are not here just to pass through and take from this place. We are here to care for it. If you come to the SF2T Trail, come as a steward. Come as a student.
The Santa Fe to Taos Trail goes from the Santa Fe Plaza to Taos Plaza over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. It is 132 miles long, spans five counties – Santa Fe, San Miguel, Mora, Rio Arriba, and Taos – and crosses the Santa Fe National Forest, The Pecos Wilderness, and Carson National Forest. The full route has 35,000 feet of cumulative ascent and descent, as both plazas are at 7,000 feet elevation.
The route is over ten years in the making, scouted and refined by Pam Neely beginning around 2014, and then first completed as a thru-hike in 2018. It has been refined several times to optimize safety and access to water. It is still being refined, with a new alternate route to be announced later this year.
Santa Fe National Forest in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions from April 2nd until September 30th
Details in the latest Trail Conditions blog post.
Carson National Forest in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions from April 24th until September 30th
Details in the Carson current fire restrictions page.
Total hikers
- 176 likely hiker groups
- 314 estimated people
New Mexico hikers
- 62 groups
- 109 estimated people
- 35.2% of groups
- 34.7% of estimated people
Out of state hikers
- 114 groups
- 205 estimated people
- 64.8% of groups
- 65.3% of estimated people
Top states after New Mexico by groups:
- Texas: 27 groups (15.3% of all groups), 40 estimated people (12.7% of estimated people)
- Colorado: 25 groups (14.2% of all groups), 46.5 estimated people (14.8% of estimated people)
- Arizona: 13 groups (7.4% of all groups), 34 estimated people (10.8% of estimated people)
- California: 11 groups (6.3% of all groups), 20 estimated people (6.4% of estimated people)
About the 2nd edition of the Santa Fe to Taos Trail Guidebook
The second edition was supposed to have come out on Monday, April 27th. I expect it to be done by mid to late May. Click here to get the details.
Maps and route
See the route page and individual section pages for details on the route and turn-by-turn directions for the route.
Presentation at the Los Alamos Mountaineers monthly meeting at the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium, Tuesday, October 28th
Huge thanks to the Mountaineers and the Nature Center for this opportunity.
Plaza to Plaza in 52 photographs
Each photograph is from one of the 50 subsections that make up the route.
